'Battleship' Slows To $170.9M Overseas

Peter Berg’s military vs aliens actioner from Universal moved into its 3rd weekend of international release and grossed an estimated $22.5M at 9,604 dates in 50 territories. That now brings the international total grosses for Battleship to $170.9M. Or, to put it in perspective, still less than what Marvel’sThe Avengers from Disney made in its first 5 days of release in 39 territories last week. And with Russia and China and Japan still to come! Rival studios tell me that Battleship‘s foreign progress slowed considerably overseas because of The Avengers. But there was still some good news. Russia held at #1 for the second week in a row. In Japan, Battleship is the #1 English-language film for the 3rd week in a row. And China should do well on the Tuesday holiday May Day there and in Russia. The pic has 14 territories still to release — including Israel on May 3, South Africa on May 4 and Latin America starting on May 10 — until it opens in the U.S. and Canada on May 18. The studio set a strategy to open overseas first because of its advance bad buzz and very expensive budget. (The studio claims the cost was $209M.)